So according to both descriptions under Special Skills Bargain and Con, you can use persuasion to get what you want. Both Special Skills also state that you can use bribery to get your own way.

I'm assuming Bargain is the equivalent of Diplomacy and Con is the equivalent of Persuade in Dungeons and Dragons? IMO the descriptions of Bargain and Con are badly-worded and I wanted to double-check before I use it in a campaign.

So for instance, my players are locked in a cell and there's a guard who has the keys but is quite far away, so I guess the players would try to use Con to coax him over?

MountainPeak11 wrote:So according to both descriptions under Special Skills Bargain and Con, you can use persuasion to get what you want. Both Special Skills also state that you can use bribery to get your own way.

I'm assuming Bargain is the equivalent of Diplomacy and Con is the equivalent of Persuade in Dungeons and Dragons? IMO the descriptions of Bargain and Con are badly-worded and I wanted to double-check before I use it in a campaign.

So for instance, my players are locked in a cell and there's a guard who has the keys but is quite far away, so I guess the players would try to use Con to coax him over?

Bargain I would reserve for mercantile efforts.

Con would fall under the category of deception and lying.

There is some gray area, such as if a merchant were misrepresenting the quality of something in the hopes of getting more for the transaction but it all comes down to intent. Are you hoping to get a good deal? If so then use Bargain. If you're trying to deceive somebody, go with Con.

Don't sweat it when skills overlap - there are many that do in AFF, especially among the lores.

For instance, identifying a totem as a cult item of Head Hunters might be handled by either Jungle Lore or Religion Lore.
World Lore and Magic Lore might also apply, although the information gained that way would be much more cursory. (World Lore might know that the carvings point at Head Hunter culture and depict Beast Lords, but might not know that the pole is used for human sacrifices by shamans. With Magic Lore, it might be vice versa.)
Even Crafting could be employed to get an idea by which tools the item was created and what physical traits the beings doing it must have had.

When in doubt, just allow the player to use the better applicable stat.

Or allow him to describe his approach in a way that keys into the skills he has. If you are familiar with Traveller and its long overlapping skill list, you should know what I mean.